A bit of a summary of the 2007/08 dairy statistics seen on the LIC site. How does your farm stack up with the countrys averages??? The number of herds is declining to 11000+, but the herd size is increasing, now 351 cows per farm in a total of 4 million plus animals. About 19% of herds have 500+ cows. Production suffered a drop last year but is increasing over the years. Last years figures are 873kg/ms/ha and 307kg/ms/cow average nationally. it is interesting to note that herds of 850-900 have the highest production per cow and about 74% of the herds use herd testing . Last year dairy farmers put 3 million cows to AB resulting in good genetic progress with 50% of herds having a BW of over 130 and 50% a PW of over 140. Average sale price of a dairy farm was $2.54 million for 91ha. This works out at about $28,000/ha or $42/kgms. Of the 11000 dairy farms about 63% are owner operated and 35% run by sharemilkers.
We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment.
Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.